“The Ranger of Smylt” – Book Announcement!

New book time! If you’re a fan of this blog, you already know Elwyn the Paranoid Ranger, my character from our AD&D campaign. Well, I’ve written a short story (if 50,000 words is “short”) about a side adventure he has a few years from now (Flanaess-time).

The Ranger of Smylt

Fourteen-year-old Jarin finds a badly wounded man in the woods, and takes him in. Little does heThe Ranger of Smylt - Kimia Wood Author suspect the stranger is a Level 12 Ranger Lord, and his simple act of kindness could be the key to saving his entire village.

If you like fantasy adventures, especially “LitRPG,” you might like this book. If you like the world and lore of the Flanaess (home of Greyhawk), you might like this book. If you like slow-burn stories that build to dramatic climaxes, you might like this book. If you like memorable side characters and stories that make you laugh, you might love this book.

If you like father-son dynamics and stories that honestly portray the differences in how men and women see the world, this book is for you. If you like friendships that grow realistically from little moments, this book is for you. If you like raw battle scenes, and heroic moments – this book is for you!

SmashwordsBarns&NobleKobo

(I’m trying out Smashwords’ feature for letting readers choose their own price, so if you visit their site, you could get it for free…or pay $20, if you decide my work has really enriched your life, and you want to encourage me. Whatever you like. I think this story is really great, and I want as many people to enjoy it as possible.) Continue reading

Dear Diary…the Infinite Staircase

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “For Duty and Deity”

The Holy Coin (high priest) finally came to see us, very polite. He explained that the whole situation has come to a crisis because one of his under-clerics – a very talented and earnest young lady – has been having terrible nightmares (I didn’t catch exactly how long this has been, but at least several days or weeks). This “Helana Jeshire” actually couldn’t sleep because of the visions – and the priests determined they are in fact visions, although they couldn’t find out inquiring through channels who might be sending them. The Bringer of Joy (who is overseeing things on behalf of Wawkeen) says it’s not her.

His Excellence took us to see Helana – in a private room of the infirmary, surrounded by attendants. At first, she just lay there, covered in sweat, with a kind of glazed look in her eyes.

When Ezekiel and Aliana approached her, she suddenly sat up, and cried, “Gold Lady! Abyss…Gratz…betrayed! She lives!”

This caused such a stir in the attendants. His Excellence just stared for a moment, and they all made religious gestures of some kind. It seems this vision was more clear than the others had been, because he now has more of an idea of what’s going on. Ezekiel says Gratz is a demon lord, so he could have the power to keep even a goddess prisoner. I can’t believe we have to go back to the Abyss again!

Anyway, Miss Helana lay down after that and seemed to relax, especially after Aliana gave her a light wounds cure. Once her breathing evened out like she was actually asleep, His Excellence went to confer with his superiors, leaving an attendant to escort us to another waiting room. This one at least was full of books, so Raven kept busy reading off the titles to us (though not all of them were a script he could decipher).

**

After some time, we were brought to His Excellence’s office, where they offered us a cold lunch, and confirmed Ezekiel’s guess: that Lady Wawkeen is most likely a prisoner of this Demon Lord Graztd. Some of his fellow priesthoods have offered to help, but he asked us if we would do the actual legwork – and what did we need for the job?

Clatrial and Ezekiel had a little argument about whether Aliana really should be going anywhere at this time, but I wouldn’t like to see anyone try to stop Aliana from killing demons, so in the end they compromised with asking Aliana to contain herself, with no back-flips or crazy stunts like that. After that, the main question was how to get to Grazdt’s domain.

The Holy Coin brought out a beautiful priestess with silver hair – not one of his, but a priestess of one of their moons (who even though she’s called Celune is not really connected to our Celene), and this priestess said she could let us into a back way into the Abyss.

Well, we are all about back doors – so we held hands in a circle so she could teleport us to *her* temple (a beautiful, vaulted building of white marble) and through the inner chapel to what looks like a mirror…but it must be another magic portal mirror, because if you walk through it you reach a mind-bending place called the Infinite Staircase (or the Celestial Staircase). The staircase is something like the manifestation of creativity, so it touches every place in the universe where there’s creativity. Even the Abyss. Lady Kiriani (the priestess) said if we memorize the place we come out in the Abyss, we should be able to get back on the Staircase.

From the threshold of the mirror, a staircase of silver rises into what seems to be an endless night sky. Almost at once, we met one of the care-takers of the place…something called a “lillendi.” On the top, they’re like an elf lady (though not very lady-like…Agnar said something to Mikael, and it made him turn very red), and on the bottom they’re like a snake – but they also have huge, feathery wings that shimmer like irridescent rainbows, and they fly around keeping an eye on things, I guess.

She gave us some advice for how to find our destination… This place is impossible to map! I don’t believe we’re traveling through actual physical space at all – not in the way we normally understand it. You can go up one staircase, then turn around and go back and reach a new place! The whole area is staircases and platforms…some wood, some metal, some a kind of wood Aliana called “bamboo,” some stone. We even found a platform that seemed made of cheese, but Raven proclaimed it nasty.

Anyway, the intention is more important than the moving of the legs, I guess – though the legs carry out the intention of the heart. They told us to look for “dark and cold” to reach our destination…and also warned us not to look for our hearts’ desire, or we might never be seen again. I suppose because we don’t all have the same heart’s desire, we wouldn’t end up in the same place…

We walked for what must equate to several miles, up and down stairs and across broad disks of various sizes and materials. There’s no point wondering what holds them up…Creativity holds them up. We only hit one dead end, so I suppose that’s good? Some of the platforms had doors on them – also of all different sizes and materials – but the lady moon priestess told us to look for a door with a six-fingered hand on it (I assume as a symbol, but I wouldn’t put it past them to have an actual hand growing out of the door).

We passed a huge, silver door guarded by holy creatures, that they told us was the door the Celune’s domain (again, different than Celene). Ezekiel wanted to pay his respects while we were there, but this place is so weird we convinced him he might not be able to get back to the mission, and Aliana is all about the mission.

We met a little girl who got lost while hiding in a closet (like I needed to be afraid of hiding, now!) but we turned her over to one of the lillendi to help her get home (they may be different, but I suppose they’re nice underneath. Maybe like centaurs…?).

Finally, we found a whole company of people camped out on a larger platform made of dirt – complete with grass and flowers growing on the edges.

Apparently the Staircase attracts all manner of people, heading to all manmer of places…and some of them decide to stay in this halfway place, like Master Dow who sold us meat kabobs. He says he enjoys meeting new people, and the business is pretty good here at the “NoWhere Inn”. He says he’s an artist, and gets plenty of inspiration here – although sourcing paint can be difficult.

An ogre-magi tried to convince Ezekiel to hire him as a guide, but Ez declined. We’ve got a pretty big party already, and we’re all on the same page more or less. Plus we already have an much direction as I think we can get in this place that listens to the mind of the travelers.

Felt rude to use the fortress when the “inn” tents were offering sleeping places, so after dinner we climbed to the next nearest platform to set up for the “night.” Hope things stay quiet.

Dear Diary…Duty

The council has voted to use one of the wishes to rescue the paladin party who were helping Ezekiel’s sister – at least rescue them from an ignoble burial in the ghoul pits, that is. So we did it with full ritual – we formed up on the field in front of the gates of the fortress, with the paladins on four corners of a circle of holy water. A company of crossbow men waited at Ezekiel’s back while he said the words:

May the bodies of the party, that were not previously recovered, be returned to the circle before us.

Two squads of paladins appeared, lying dead in mauled armor, while a half-dozen or so ghouls stood around them…they used to be young women, but the change the ghoulification makes is truly horrifying. They couldn’t reach anyone, because of the power of the paladins, so they just snarled at us until the crossbowmen took them down. Ezekiel cast a ritual to remove the curse, and then they could all be properly prepared for a wagon ride back to Gorna. Ez says their families will be comforted, at least…and they did a service to Geoff.

Ez says he has another serious matter to discuss with the council tomorrow.

****

Meeting of the Masters of Haven:

High Priest related a visit he and First Paladin had from the inner door of their room. Grey-haired man with resonant voice introduced himself as “Ao” – manager god of a place called Abel’Toril (couldn’t enter their bedroom; I guess it’s warded against extra-planar things). Seems HP has heard bits and pieces of him before, which would explain why he used to think the God he worships was named Ao. Actually, it’s someone even higher up the chain!

Ao explained that several years ago, the gods under him were neglecting their duties and he had to discipline them. He made them mortal until they could prove their contrition…and the people of that world now call that event the “Time of Troubles.” Several deities were killed and their offices reassigned, but one of them has simply “disappeared.” If she had died, Ao could reassign her job, but instead she’s just “missing” and he wants her found.

Her name is Wawkeen, or the “Golden Lady,” and sounds like their version of Zilchus (who is not a “bad” guy, but doesn’t worry about “good” much, either). Someone called “Giver of Joy” is covering her duties for now, but everyone involved would like her found again.

Master Ao says he can transport us to visit the Lady’s high priest for more specifics (and allow us to understand the language) if we’re willing to help. HP points out it seems a problem tailor-made for us. Someone pointed out our investigation method seems to consist of stumbling around until we bump into undead, and then starting to kill things. FP expressed no discontentment with killing undead.

Exact role of those embarking to be discussed later. Ez insisted Lord and Lady Karenath must spend time with their new baby, and Lady Karenath rather miffed.

**

Assignments settled. Master Ronhass to lead training of monks while Master Keom attends Head Monk. Dame Guderwinda, Dame Clatrial, Head Doorkeeper Usin, Sir Theobaldus, and Agnar-the-Handsomest-of-Burly-Dwarves to accompany HP and FP. And the rest of us are just coming.

Actually, “Arch Druid Mikael of the Hidden Grove Who Follows Paths Unknown” is coming. I’m not doing that again.

Ez has figured out how he can get all of us back safely, and given Usin the ring of cleric spells, so we leave tomorrow.

(Sirion to take care of Andari ’til I get back…and make sure Ragni and Agni don’t embarrass him too much.)

****

We formed up in Ezekiel’s bedroom, where he whistled a dittie and opened the rear door. At first it looked like the same old dark cave, but by the time I got up there, the others were filing out of some kind of tent – like a market shelter. I don’t remember if I closed the door or if it swung closed on its own, but when I looked behind, all I saw was canvas and closed crates and an empty shelf.

Once we emerged to the street outside, we found a bustling market – no, more like a bazaar, since there were people (apparently human) of all different skin tones and all different facial features, mingling and buying and selling out of shelters like the one behind us. Their clothes were strange, but it different ways, so it’s clear many different cultures gather here to interact. Many of the people were wearing gold or jewelry, so our signs of wealth wouldn’t make us stand out especially…although Raven pointed out nothing looked particularly like a magic artifact, or glowed or anything. I did not ask Tressarian his opinion, as I didn’t want to make a scene.

Ez and Aliana asked for directions, and we were directed to the “Gold Spires” – very apt, as it turns out. On leaving the court full of shops, we found ourselves in some kind of city, with an easy-to-follow main road that led across a bridge toward a walled fortress on a shelf above the city. The fortress has sharp, narrow towers that glint in the sun – and if gold really is so easy to obtain around here, it could be they are actually gilded. (Maybe not “easy to obtain,” since I get the idea it’s still a symbol of status and wealth…)

Signs outside the fortress welcomed us in the name of the “Bringer of Joy” (regent of the “Golden Lady”), so we figured we had the right place, and when we asked the guards to speak to someone in charge, they called a boy to escort us to a waiting room. Everyone seems very polite, but I can’t shake the feeling we’re being watched.

Dear Diary…lazy days

The Royal Games of Neil Dra have been fun, if exhausting. Ezekiel and Raven went around, trying as much of the street food as they could. Raven said some of the cheese was “fine,” but not “stupendous.”

I got entered into the archery contest somehow, but I didn’t do too badly. His Majesty King Scottie asked for a match with me, and I suppose I was self-conscious, which is why I hit the target but didn’t make the bullseye. So he technically got the best out of three, although the one shot he missed went over the target, over the backstop, and nailed some poor spectator. For once, Ezekiel wasn’t the only cleric on hand with Raise Dead at his fingertips, which certainly comes in handy sometimes.

His Majesty seems like…if Father and Ezekiel were merged, somehow. He’s big, and laughs a lot, and puts his whole heart into everything he does, it seems. I think Keoland is in good hands.

King Thrommel was there for a bit, taking a turn in the jousting tourney – with Queen Jolene cheering him on in the stands, of course. He made any knight of Furiundy and Veluna proud…although I don’t think he sparred with Aliana.

She did not participate as long as I think she would have liked, but even magic armor can’t completely hide that her baby is coming along.

It’s impossible to say what Lydia actually looks like, when she’s always wearing The Hat, but she takes her time sitting down or standing up, and holds Heiron’s arm a lot whenever we’re going somewhere. (Which of course he doesn’t mind; in fact, he seems to strut more when she does. When people walk past – men and women – and take a second look, he looks like a little boy with a lizard…which I just realized is a horrible metaphore, I’m just saying Bartholomew was mighty fond and proud of his lizards, until Mother made him put them back outside).

Andari says his favorite part was watching me shoot against King Scottie. He hasn’t explained why. There’s certainly a lot to see all over…much more than the festivals we used to have back home. We even found a cleric of Ehlonna visiting the temple of Rao, and leading some songs. They kept the singing out in the foyer, of course, so we wouldn’t bother anyone looking for quiet in the sanctuary. (Usin joined us in that part, though he didn’t sing very loud. He had a whole armful of pastries and cheeses to try once he got back to the inn and could take his helmet off.)

Once everyone has seen what they want to see, we’ll head back to the Crystalmysts. I think we’re planning to ride all the way, though we’ll see. If we take it easy, we should be back in a week or so.

****

2 Patchwall

Meeting notes of the Masters of Haven:

Ez High Priest and Head Monk report on meeting they had last night after dinner, at the inn in the village (“Here Be Flagons;” it even has a name!)

Invited by elegant note. Met in private back room, poorly lit by candles, with unknown person in concealing hood and cloak. Although HP was invited alone, he took HM with him. Stranger had two silent attendants also in robes.

Stranger declared himself representative of a faraway kingdom (worshippers of various gods, including Grumpsh, Hextor, and Mgluviat – blah!). He sought an alliance of mutual aid (each party doing “whatever reasonable” to aide the other when under attack). Offered chest of rubies as “gesture of good will.”

Stinks like the ocean. Quite apart from Stranger saying “elves” like Aliana give him hives (is it really her elfness, eh?). HP will consult his “Boss” tomorrow morning just to make sure, but the consensus of the council is “avoid foreign entanglements.”

****

Raven introduced us to his sister Canary today. Apparently he and Lydia found her somewhere in Perrinland, and invited her to visit. She seems nice enough, and very polite while listening to stories (Sirion told me to tell her about fighting the giants, or maybe about the Slave Lords…but fighting the Slave Lords was not the proudest period of my career. So I quickly started the story about the giants, before Agnar could get rolling about his version of events). Mikael seems to like her, but I think he likes any girl that acknowledges his existence (which is funny, because most women seem to like how he carries himself…anyway…)

I’m not sure exactly how long she’ll stay, but it seems she lives a life of travelling and collecting stories wherever they may be. She shared some legends from Perrinland, about the Old One’s mother and how she was driven from power there, and what she may or may not have left behind. She was especially interested to meet Madam Whinney and Master Chestnut, and hear a few of the centaur bedtime stories.

Oh, Raven also brought an update about the mysterious visitors in the village. He and Ezekiel met with them again to politely decline their proposed alliance (Ez says his answer “through channels” said to not make deals with them, but also that they weren’t devils. Plenty of other things they could be, though).

The hooded “ambassador” took it well enough…he even tried to have them keep the giant chest of rubies as “payment for services rendered” but Raven said that felt sketchy, like he didn’t want to get entangled any further. So they sent the stranger and his two silent companions on their way.

I suppose this should be recorded in official Masters notes…but not right now. Glottis is helping Canary to fish, and it makes her laugh. Maybe afterward, we’ll show her the obstacle course the monks and I were working on today. Ragni and Agni say it’s not well suited to people of small stature, but they love keeping score when Andari and I run through it. I think the monks didn’t take into account all the gear that an adventurer requires, so they have an unfair advantage during the segments they designed.

****

7 Patchwall – Lydia and Heiron’s baby has finally been born! Miss Dree says they had a midwife from the village come in and help.

I didn’t know a tiny human could look so cute. She has such tiny fingers and toes, and such big cheeks. Her name is Eleanor, and when Heiron’s not busy on duty, he’s most likely in their chambers rocking her or letting her suck his fingers or something. It is…remarkable to see.

He’s come so far from an accidental prisoner of the Evil Elemental cultists. And Lydia has actually giggled a couple times, really and truly, like any ordinary girl who happens to be happy. They do say Eleanor only sleeps in hour-increments, but they don’t seem to hold it against her.

I must write Mother as soon as possible and tell her, or she’ll hunt me down.


Find the previous entry here.

Dear Diary…the Masters of Haven

Notes, meeting of the “Masters of Haven”
Earthday, 6 Harvester

Report: High Priest, First Paladin, and Head Monk returned from their trip to Gorna (acknowledgement to Arcane Mistress of the transport-mirror). They presented His Grace with verbal and written reports of our business in the Underdark. He suggested he would try to verify the condition of the Spider Queen by independent sources, and we said Yes Please.

(HP also mentioned he and Aliana had many frantic letters from the king’s agent in Sterich waiting in their room when we got back the other day. Said a cloud of darkness and thunder was traveling across the Uleks from the Pomarj, and then across Keoland, and finally up the Duchy to Crystalmyst Mountains. Then last letter said King’s Agent had dispelled the sphere, and all was resolved.)

They also visited HP’s sister. Long story about her fighting ghouls with a company of paladins, who valiantly fell to seal up this stone of ghoul-summoning under the city or something. Salute to paladins. Racy comment from Agnar struck from record.

HP et alia also visited His Serenity High Priest Hazen, and handed over the four amulets (THOSE amulets). Watched a ceremony where seven of his clerics made one of the necklaces glow red. Trusting him to seal it up securely. (Hopefully more securely than the four elemental stones…though that might be unfair, since the EEG was involved, trying to free himself, and now hopefully his fingers have been shoved back through the keyhole.)

Question: what to do about the orcs? Someone not me suggested orbital bombardment (not me). Discarded because someone said the Ranger Lord was too bloodthirsty.

Arch Druid offered services of his grove to increase crops. HP makes himself note to multiply rations, and send to Fort Gellsblood for supplies.

Parts of loot from Lolth’s treasure chamber have “dissolved.” Probably the coins from the giant pile, probably illusory. Other treasure still there. Suggestion: hire an accountant. Head Monk suggests grunt work for under-monks builds character. HP says under-monks are already doing so much.

[Humerous doodle of Agnar]

Long discussion by some parties about using the wishes on the rings – help restore Leah’s party? Help restore Dame DonDragon’s party? Feed valley of Haven? No conclusion reached at this time.

Note: Dame DonDragon safely transported to Gorna and given resources to get home (and gifts for the families of her companions). Also carrying a report of our doings, should she see fit to report it. (Mikael asks Ranger Lord privately for help writing her a letter. Agnar overhears and volunteers his services. Politely dissuaded.)

****

The weather is lovely. Not just because it’s not the Underdark! The gang and I have headed into the mountains for a few days, tracking a herd of deer. Sirion and I realized that you can tell the difference between horse hoofprints and centaur hoofprints, although I think the shoes make them closer. I couldn’t figure out how to explain it to Andari, though.

He’s blooming well. His bowmanship is especially good…good for his age, that is. I keep having to remember he’s still a kid in lot of ways, although he talks more than Keiran does.

Keiran does seem to growl at Glottis quite a bit. Glottis doesn’t seem to mind.

I have realized that when Madam Whiney wiggles her neck and shoulders, she doesn’t mean what a human would mean if she did that. Instead, she means a centaur thing…which I’m still not sure I understand, of course. She did tell us a story last night that she used to tell her children (she says most of her children are now warriors, so she’s giving Andari tips about archery. I’m not sure he’s at a stage to process them, though).

Sirion says they haven’t seen signs of bandits to the west, but they try to keep an ear to the ground south and east, since with the increased traffic from here to the fort and back, it might tempt someone to waylay a caravan.

****

Meeting notes,
Starday, 15 Harvester

Mail arrived from Keoland. Official thanks from the King for services rendered. All now Fellows of Keoland (with badges!)! (No word on if that requires military service on demand.) Will tell Arch Druid when he returns, since he’s currently somewhere up the mountain with the disciples, doing “rituals.”
Also received letter from Master Uthien and Sir Fredrick. They’ve adjusted to modern era, I guess, and hope to join us here to resume research. We do, after all, have a deep mountain lake. High Priest to draft friendly and positive response. (Probably also very long.)

Discussion about what to do with the wishes quickly derailed when Agnar asked if a wish could make him more attractive to ladies (emphasis on *more*).
Learned the settlement right by the gates of the fortress now has a tavern: “Here Be Flagons” – and Head Monk suggested naming the settlement now, since it’s basically a village. “Rodger” and “Archibald” both rejected.

First Paladin says drilling with “new recruits” going well; men and “not-men” forming a cohesive unit for defense of Haven.

****

Meeting notes
Earthday, 27 Harvester

Mail arrived from Gorna. Favorable commendations from His Grace the Grand Duke, accompanied by gold chains with the seal of Gorna. Very official!
Report from His Grace says the Earl of Sterich and all inhabitants of Istivin safely restored (except ones killed by giants) so best case scenario all around.
After a week of prayer and fasting, Dame Clatriel is now paladin of Knights of the Bramble (God of gods).

High Priest reports that Warchief Torgar Redhand is now also an acolyte of the God of gods. Long involved story: HP insisted on learning rites of Grumpsh, the better to sort out what is “beyond the limit” of tolerance. Grumpsh refused. Redhand despondent, decided his desire to save his people from slaughter under a war-mongering chief in Pomarj was unworthy before Grumpsh. Ez told him, he’s smarter than Grumpsh at this point, and took his people under Ezekiel’s protection.

Much discussion among the Three. [Sounds like power moves of people above my pay grade.]

HP reminded all of the wedding in a few days, and urged us to be ready. Insisted the Arch Druid and Ranger Lord must wear something “nice.” Definition of “nice” incomplete.

****

Waterday, 2 Brewfest
Mitrik, United Kingdom of Furiundy and Veluna!

Dear Mother and Father,

Hope you are well. His Majesty Thrommel and Princess Jolene are finally actually married! Father Hazen did the ceremony in the cathedral in Mitrik. Ezekiel had tabards sewed up with what’s supposed to be the symbol of Haven on them, so I could wear it over my chainmail and still look “nice” (although I think this chainmail has a very comforting look to it). I guess this way most of us matched (though Ez’s gate captain wore his helmet the whole time, to prevent a scene), and we had a place to pin all our badges – because I now have a badge as a Fellow of Keoland and a chain of commendation from His Grace the Grand Duke, as well as the knighthood ones from Furiundy and Veluna.

I promised to tell Miss Dree about the Princess’ dress, so I’ll tell you, too – it was all white satin underneath, I think, with a big long train, but that was hidden by layers of lace and embroidery, with little beads that made it glimmer when she moved her arms. It almost looked like she was wearing snow, or like the satin had frosted like a window.

After the marriage, the king handed over his authority to his son, and the Provost of Veluna handed over his authority, and they joined the two kingdoms under one head, and His Serenity Father Hazen crowned Thrommel as the High King. (They had some trouble with would-be assassins, I hear, but the guards caught them before any trouble happened, and they’re already on pikes outside the city. I hope that means we don’t need to worry any more; that any evil scheme will be derailed before it gets started.)

After the coronation, everyone went up to swear fealty to His Majesty. [A list of nobles’ names and titles] Those are the ones I remember, at least.

His Majesty King Belvor made time to come greet us and introduce us to His Majesty of Keoland, King Scottie, which was very nice of him.

Andari says that was probably his favorite part (although he was also very impressed by Madam Lydia transporting us all here by magic). You will be proud of him – his bows were perfect and he remembered everyone’s titles very well (in fact he helped me keep track of who was who a little bit).

Although at first he thought it strange that I brought Tressarian along, I explained that a warrior must be ready for anything at all times, even if everyone around him also seems ready. After all, Rule One of winning a fight is “bring friends,” and you might have to be someone else’s friend at times. And after all, the whole thing sort of started when Tressarian detected a room radiating magical Evil behind a shrine in the Temple of Elemental Evil, so you could almost say he’s the one who rescued King Thrommel (and he certainly doesn’t mind saying so).

It was very comforting to see all the paladins and royal mages pledging loyalty to their new High King. When he kissed his new queen I dare say every throat choked up, even ones that aren’t used to strong emotion (then, of course, we all gave a cheer – like the whole city shouting together in celebration).

They both just looked so happy. It was like…watching the first tulip bloom in spring, or…finding a tree in the woods that you remembered as a sapling, and now suddenly it’s taller than you are, and as thick as your arm, and stronger than bone. It’s beautiful…and you know it’s only going to get better. (Andari says he understands what I’m saying, but it’s not how he would think to describe it. But he was sniffling like a baby during the ceremony, so I know he’s got a real, feeling heart in him.)

Neil Dra in Keoland is currently holding its Royal Games, so we’ll be buying horses and heading there shortly. It’s very nice to have time to just relax and do different things, not always be off killing monsters or rescuing people, although I’m sure it won’t stay that way for too long.

Sincerely, Elwyn


Find the previous entry here.

Read the next entry here.

Dear Diary…Dear Mom I’m not dead

Dear Tomlin,

How are you? I am fine, for now.

We just got back from the Underdark. There were parts of it that were pretty, but I don’t think you would like it. We wore these red glass things on our eyes in a city down there, and it makes the crystals and fung glowing things down there all stand out with extraordinary colors. If you put them over your eyes on a bright, cloudless day, you should see everything sparkling, and maybe even see the streaks of a different wavelength of light (Madam Lydia said the library there might have a book on the properties of light, so you might understand that part). And if you put the glasses on and look at a campfire, it makes the inner self of the fire stand out much more, with different colors than you can usually see because of the glare. But Lydia says don’t do it too much or you might hurt your eyes.

I saw Wolfgang. He seems about as well as he can be. Father sent Andari to stay with me, who I think is related to Uncle Wilber, but we’re still working it out.

Everyone here says hello. Hope you are well.

****

Dear Mother and Father,

How are you? I am not dead so far.

We have had a rough couple months. It all started when His Grace asked us to go help Sterich because some kind of huge black bubble had swallowed most of Istivin. I suppose it was actually a snarl of webbing of some kind, but at the time we were assigned to go fight the giants in the mountains who were taking advantage of the situation to harry the settlements south of the river. Turns out they were also being egged on, but reducing the number of evil giants in the world is always worthwhile.

The ones stirring them up were evil elves with black skin and white hair, called drow, and they live deep underground in a place called the Underdark, which is basically what it sounds like. There are sometimes crystals or fungus that glow, but pretty much everything down there likes the dark.

The drow have a city down there, but most of it is not worth even mentioning. We did rescue some slaves and lost people down there, but I think if one tried to go there just for that, it would wear down one’s soul. Actually, the drow worship a demoness called the Queen of Spiders – or maybe I should say “worshipped” because that was part of the problem – but anyway the reason we were down there ended up being that this Spider Queen was trying to take control of parts of the surface (Istivin being one of them, I think) so we had to go to the source to stop her.

That’s not all, though, because some of the drow felt slightened by her, so they were trying to worship something called the Elder Elemental God, which sounds like it makes the demons look like tidy little good boys. They were searching for a ritual to unseal him (since the Earth Mother locked him up a long time ago, I guess), and things looked tense for a while, but we used a ritual invoking the Earth Mother to seal him forever, and I think we used the soul of the Spider Queen or something weird like that. Ezekiel found an amulet that forced her to obey one command, at least theoretically, and although it just looked like a regular female drow, she could have been just using that form to walk around in. I would be more skeptical that we actually accomplished all that, except that as we were beating a retreat, the entire city, it seems, started this shrieking and carrying on, like the city’s collective soul was suddenly cut off…which might be an appropriate response to losing one’s goddess.

That was a couple days ago, at least; we had to travel a ways through the caves to reach a spot where Madam Lydia could teleport out of, but now we’re back, and it’s good to be home.

Although, things are a bit upside-down, here, too. Thank you for sending Andari – he got here safe, and he seems very earnest. We’re teaching him to fish while I write. A big brown bear has moved into the grove while I was away, but they tell me he behaves himself.

We’ll see about the others…Ezekiel attracts the most ridiculous things… The moment we got home, the gate captain and the head monk asked us to come see to something right away. So Ezekiel mounted up and rode across the field in front of the mountain (I will try to send a sketch some time; the light’s not very good today) to the pass that lets into the valley, and found a huge sphere of thunderclouds – like a thick fog in the mountains, except dark like rainclouds, which don’t usually come down to our level – and towering up into an approximate sphere shape that filled almost all of the pass. It rumbled and thumped and misted in a most unnatural way.

Master Sirion (I think I told you about him? He is an elf that does everything, basically, and helps protect the valley while we’re away) and the druids came over, and said it wasn’t to do with them, but it’s been sitting there for three days. (I guess Wolfgang and the others arrived just before it did, and everyone was much disturbed.) I of course started worrying what sort of vengeance a demon or its allies could summon up.

Then as Ez came up to the sphere, an orc came out of the fog with a white flag, and begged to speak with the cleric of the God of gods. So Ezekiel moved forward (with Aliana right by him, of course) and out came the biggest orc I have ever seen (as big as most ogres, probably), weathered with scars and wearing a red glove and an eyepatch. (Raven says he recognized someone in the retinue – a blacksmith who was working for the Slave Lords, but that’s another story.)

The leader said his name was Redhand, and he came to serve the cleric of the God of gods, and he brought three baskets of humanoid heads as an offering. I agree a dead goblin is the best goblin, but that isn’t our style, and Aliana quickly told him no more “offerings,” ever.

But Ezekiel said if the orcs can understand the rule of law, they can serve him and his God, so he’s giving them a place in the mountain to dig out tunnels for themselves. Raven says it turned out to be good that we didn’t kill the young orcs in the sewers in the Pomarjch, because some of them have come here with Chief Redhand.

The chief passed some kind of message into the cloud of darkness, and the thundering sound stopped. Before too long, the fog dissipated, revealing a huge army of orcs and an enormous drum in the center, pulled on a wagon, with the drummers slumped against it, panting, and barely still holding their drumsticks. As Ezekiel rode off toward the mountain to assign them a place, some kind of devil appeared and took the drum away with him.

I’m just glad they’re on the other side of the lake from me… I know a “God of all gods” would be a God of all gods (Chief Redhand says he’s a cleric of Grumpsh), but I still think this is pushing the limits. You can’t just reform orcs. They’re not like people, who make choices to be either good or evil.

It’s as though the world was opening itself up to reveal a vast, awful balancing act…like if you’d lived all your life not knowing there were two moons, and then one night looking up into the sky.

It’s a feeling; I’m sure it will pass. Ehlonna does not change her face, just because the world contains plains and deserts as well as forests. Ragni said something very similar, about the laws of the earth staying the same, except making the whole thing sound more ridiculous (he’s one of the dwarves staying here, and perhaps I don’t understand dwarf culture enough). Either way, I suppose it’s not worth worrying about yet. If it comes down to it, I think Master Sirion will see things my way.

Well, we’ve been marching for three or four days straight, but I will try to write more when I get the chance. Ragni and Agni (they are both dwarves, but I’m not sure they’re brothers) are telling Andari a story, and I will try not to let it get out of hand. They are funny, but they are also very dwarvish, and that takes some learning. (Is Wolfgang all right? He looks like Archie when we used to show up late to dinner, with dirty hands…but he’s been sitting next to an entire army of orcs hidden by a demon devil cloud, and I think even Archie would react to that a bit more. The two are not comprable, after all.)

Give my love to all, and I will do my best to show Andari what trouble is and how to avoid it, and how to smack it down if it refuses to be ignored.

-Elwyn

P.S. Dear Mama if you meet any clerics of Ehlonna who feel a call to live on the edge of civilization, feel free to invite them here. It would be nice to have something familiar and homey, after all the wild insanity we’ve been through. Although I can’t promise I’ll be here if he or she came…something always seems to come up. Sirion says he’s staying here “for a bit,” though…and that could well mean a couple hundred years. Maybe he likes my stories.

Anyway, I’m plotting some kind of sacred line to keep orcs out of the woods. I could ask Ezekiel, I suppose, (he practically makes holy water by the vat these days) but I’m not sure I could get him to understand. His heart is just too big and his calling too grand.

A King of the gods exists, it seems, but He put the others in the world for a reason, and that seems enough to someone of my station. I’m just a kid who climbs trees and shoots arrows, after all, deep down.

Write you later. I’ll try to send you a sketch of this bear while he’s sleeping…it’s just so like a little kid. We’re naming him Glottis.


Find the previous entry here.

Dear Diary…a spanking that ripples through the Underdark

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventures “Vault of the Drow”, “City of Spiders”, “Queen of the Demonweb Pits” and “Web of Souls”

Ez thinks he found the amulet…actually we found four, so he’s just clutching all of them. It sounds like a high-level gambit, so best to take no (unnecessary) chances.

Raven and I figured out how to exit the treasure room, so now all we have to do is find the portal to the Alserv estate (that they say only the Queen can close) and perform our ritual.

Ehlonna, St. Cuthbert, Pelor, Obed-Hai, Beori…and even their King have mercy on us.

****

When we stepped through the portal, we found ourselves in a cave dug by the elements, but sealed by hands with double brass doors. As Heiron, Agnar, Clatrial, and I guarded the door, Ezekiel went over the plan once more.

Someone had traced a circle on the floor of the cave, with four indentations evenly spaced. In the middle sat a pure white stone, I suppose about the size of a fist – when Ez picked it up it turned translucent…almost like quartz, or slime.
He placed the stone dedicated to Beori in the center of the circle, with such words as seemed fitting, and moved back to where Raven stood with Lydia and Aliana, holding the stones.

The Spider Queen warned us there would be “opposition.” As Raven set the first stone in place, a creature appeared in the center of the circle…something I doubt I could have imagined even in the depths of feverish nightmare. All teeth and tentacles and shreds of darkness, I’m just glad it was vulnerable to Aliana and Raven’s weapons…and when it died, it melted like smoke before a breeze, leaving only a feeling of uneasiness.

So it went with each of the next two gems, until finally the hard part came. We tried our best to pay attention to the outer door, to keep any drow from interfering, but I think it’s just as well no one came…we couldn’t stop stealing glances at the drama behind us…Heiron worried for Lydia, Clatrial for Aliana, me for everything everywhere.

Raven held the last stone, and Ezekiel pulled out a scroll. He read terrible, commanding words – and a portal opened. Two snake-lady-demons slithered through, demanding what he wanted with their queen – but he shook the amulets and ordered her to appear. The demons snarled and made to draw swords, but two huge, winged warriors that appeared out of no where held out empty hands and told them to sit back and watch.

Finally, a female drow came out of the portal. I suppose it was a form of hers…she obeyed the amulet, and berated us for our treachery. But she obeyed…snarling and grimacing, she obeyed…she took the stone from Raven, and set it in the niche on the floor.
There was a snap like thunder – like the lid of a chest falling closed – like lye dripped in water – and in the space of a blink, the figure of Lolth, the Spider Queen, was gone.

The demons returned through the portal without so much as glancing at any of us, and the winged men vanished as abruptly as they had appeared.

The four stones were also gone, and the whole cave was filled with a reek…worse than ogre latrines, worse than hill giants. As soon as Ez gave us an indication, we pulled open the brass doors and ventured into the tunnel on the other side.

We made our way down the rocky tunnel as quickly as caution allowed. As we went, a scream tore through the air…I’m not even sure where it came from. Maybe the tunnel was underneath the Alserv house.

The opening of the tunnel let out into a courtyard, with a huge, ornate house on one side, and a guarded gate on the other. The guards didn’t seem to notice us, though – they were busy staring back at the house, where many shrill voices were screaming as though they would wake the dead with it.

We only paused long enough for Mikael to summon his earth elemental from the stone of control, and then the elemental smashed open the gate for us. I think one of the guards did get off a crossbow bolt, so points for that…but only once we were already out of range. Who would expect anyone to smash out of your fortified estate?

We returned to the temple in the Fane without running across any patrols, and found the big barbarian man hanging out with the drow from the cage. They say the drow suffers from an unfortunate tendency to “goodness,” so of course Ez welcomed him with open arms. We had a bit of trouble figuring out how to get all of us back across the bridge, but Agnar volunteered to give his green cloak to Dame DonDragon, and hide in the portable hole with my necklace of adaptation. The drow said if the barbarian posed as our slave, we should have no trouble…and so far that seems to be the case. None of the guards took alarm from “surfacers” trying to leave their sacred ground, and we crossed the bridge and the Pitchy Flow without so much as being questioned.

Once in the city, we split into two groups: Ezekiel went to collect the hermit priest (but not the half-drow-half-elf thief, to his disappointment), while Raven paid in advance for some more nights at the Crowned Button. We don’t know if anyone will pursue us, but there’s no harm in muddying the water in our wake.

Now all that remains is to collect those Good-aligned slaves we paid half-down for, and we can leave this place forever. Travel is going pretty well, with Mikael’s magic statue that turns into an elephant. It can’t be too soon for my tastes.

**

I think Ez is also anxious. We pushed on for nearly an entire day of traveling (day and night both being the same here), taking no real rests before we reached the estate of House Gem. Ez says we’ll be moving on again as soon as he and Raven finish with the transaction, though hard to say how fast he’ll be able to push the prisoners.

We did check on Agnar in the hole, but Lydia is afraid they may count us at the black tower on our way out, so we gave him some rations and told him to stay put. He only complained perfunctorily…Ez gave him a book with pictures, and he says he had no idea they wrote books about ninjas fighting pirates.

**

Taking turns on the elephant, we made it to the entrance of the cavern. Lydia especially looks the worse for twenty-odd hours on her feet, but the rest of us are also feeling it.

Ez was asking his new drow (his name is Nilonim) if we had to sign out at the tower or anything like that, when a sound came echoing across the Vault…a wailing, or a shrieking, fit to raise the hair of the coldest stoic. From the faces of Nilonim and Father Telec, such a sound is not normal, even from the city of the drow. At that, we all agreed that if no one bothered us, we wouldn’t bother them – and kept straight on for the exit.
Stopped now to pass around food and water, and let Agnar out of the hole (Ez handed Aliana the amulets while he multiplied the food, but other than that he’s clutching them like death). Our bodies will need sleep soon, but I don’t know if our minds can.

**

Finally came to a point where Lydia thought she could blip through time and space. She cast teleport, and after a few uneasy minutes, she opened the mirror portal and ushered us all through. So everyone is finally safe.

The half-drow slipped through just as the last of us were coming through. Ez happy.

More to write when I have time.

Dear Diary…sending the loud party to do the quiet job

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventures “Queen of the Demonweb Pits” and “Web of Souls”

Crazy morning.

First, we followed the wide strand past a three-footed pillar with veins of blue, then past a little winged demon at a desk of papers with another little monster handing him things (had to drag Ez away from chit-chat with him. The demon started asking about where we were from – out of “curiosity,” he said – and how many soldiers it could field, and Ez got all nerdy about military theory).

We passed an egg sack hanging onto one side of the web, and I think something was alive in there, but it didn’t notice us.

Then, finally, we found a pedestal made of plain grey stone, with the six stones on its engraved face all the same milky white. I suppose it’s the pedestal we want, though we haven’t gotten it to do anything. I suppose the whole point was that it “didn’t work.”

Mikael and Ezekiel have both tried pushing the different gems – even pushing all of them at once – but nothing has happened. Lydia is helping them go through different combinations, now. I think that’s about 720 different possibilities, but Lydia says it could be over 18,000. I really hope not.

**

I have been useful, even if no one thinks so. We decided to explore some more, I think, and see if we had perhaps missed the correct pillar. When we passed by the egg sack again, it gave a “clink,” like metal ringing, which is a strange noise even for extra-planar demon spiders. I mentioned it to Raven, and then he heard it, too…and then Ezekiel crawled right into the bundle of webbing like it was nothing.

After a moment, he came out with a young lady wearing the symbol of Pelor over damaged plate armor. She introduced herself as Mirnisha DonDragon, a knight of Neil Dra, and gave her story while Ezekiel healed her.

An “anomaly” appeared in the sky over Neil Dra – she wasn’t sure how long ago – and she went with a wizard and a team of other paladins to investigate. It sounds suspiciously like what happened to Istivin…especially given later information. She says when they touched the anomaly – that looked like a black bubble – it teleported them here: to the Abyss. It didn’t go so well…

However, in wandering around she’s found most of the pillars that are attached to portals: Gorna, Istivin, Loftwick, Neil Dra – most of the great capitals, in fact. Most of the portals seem high in the air, which could be why we haven’t heard more about them before…but it’s also true we’ve been out of conmunication for some time. Perhaps His Serenity Herozen tried to contact Ezekiel because of this?

Anyway, we asked about a pillar that “didn’t work” – and Dame DonDragon confirmed that the pillar where we were, with the white stones, is the only one without color.

So we returned there, and, since she’s been here longer I guess, Dame DonDragon thought to walk backward into the pillar with her eyes closed – which made her disappear.

Aliana followed her almost immediately, and Ezekiel was right after her. The rest of us kind of looked at each other, and sorted ourselves out until one by one, we stepped backward and found ourselves in a new place.

I’m not sure where the light comes from, but we can see. It’s a sort-of cylindrical room with grey walls, and a massive pile of coins at the center (next to two dead demons). Tressarian said he felt much better here, and so we checked around for magic – the pile of coins showed up nothing, but we found six spots along the walls that smelled of magic…in fact, right where Ezekiel’s cleric senses detected traps.

It seems there are six invisible chests placed around the walls of the room. Right now Raven and Ezekiel are trying to disarm the traps and unlock the chests, which is troublesome when they’re invisible…but that gives us all a chance to breathe, since this dimension is much more suited to our tastes.

So far Raven has found gems, potions, some magical gear…standard stuff. Now that we are in a new place, I can write that Ez really wants to find an amulet that belongs to the Spider Queen. They say that such an amulet can force the owner to obey one command. That sounds like a dangerous thing to own, but I suppose people like her are always gambling on obscure angles.

Aliana filled in Dame DonDragon with the basics of our mission, and despite all she’s been through, she’s still eager to kill demons. I suppose that willpower is what kept her alive for however long it’s been (oh, and Tressarian says she’s not a doppelganger).

It would be nice if I live long enough to see if the plan works. Unless it doesn’t, in which case, I suppose it doesn’t matter.


Find the previous entry here.

Dear Diary…come into my parlor

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventures “Queen of the Demonweb Pits” and “Web of Souls”

Our “night” was pretty restless. Demons kept stomping by, telling us not to loiter, and though they never pressed the issue, it kept all of us on edge. Mikael and Lydia look especially disheveled and crabby.

The good news is, Ezekiel finally came to…so we can finally follow the strand that leads down, and hope none of us fall off.

**

The slope led to a level strand, and at the first junction after that, we found another three-footed pillar. This one was made of black stone with orange veins, and also had an engraved map of some kind on top…but Lydia said it’s a different design than the first one we found. There are also six gems arranged at intersections of the carving, but if the placement was significant, I didn’t know enough to recognize it.

[Brief sketch]

Shortly after that, we finally found a drow lady willing to give us directions. Well, first she called us loiterers, but Ezekiel said we were just lost, so she pointed out one of the strands radiating from her platform. We left her to babysit her undead monster things (they looked kinda like ghouls, but I’m not sure), and followed the path she indicated.

That led us to yet another pedestal with three legs and a web-pattern carved on top. But this one was different because a glowing arch stood to one side…and through it we saw what looked like a human city, seen from several hundred feet above. Master Oaklock said it looked like Loftwick, the capital of the Yeomanry… Three of the six gems set out on the “map” were glowing: a yellow, a blue, and a green-

[Sketch]

The other three gems were red, orange, and purple. When Lydia poked the red gem, the gems stopped glowing, and the archway disappeared entirely. She tried poking the green one to turn it back on, but she said the pedestal gave her a jolt that made her hand numb for a couple minutes.

Ezekiel tried poking the gems, and found that if he did them in order, the right colors would light, and the portal reappeared. We hadn’t heard of a black sphere over the Yeomanry…perhaps that’s what the message Ez received was about. We haven’t found an archway for Istivin, and we don’t know if messing with the pedestals actually affects what’s going on for the other side, so we still have some investigating to do.

**

[The following handwriting is a little messier than normal]

We finally found it. The nest.

A huge, white sphere sits on a strand, stretching so tall that our lights could barely make out the edge in the mists. It resembles the sphere in Istivin in some ways, but that one more resembled a ball of cords. This is more like the egg sack of a spider, where the threads are so tiny and interwoven they appear as a united fabric.

Two drow ladies stood on the strand, controlling the approach, along with a snake demon with six arms and the head of a woman, like we saw before in the city. The snake-demon sat behind a small, cluttered desk, and asked for our names. After fussing around the desk for a minute, she slithered off across the surface of the sphere to get “the ledger”…a big wad of paper barely held together with a leather cover.

Ez took the chance while she was gone to give brief, quiet instructions to each of us…in the event that things fell apart. Heiron and I were responsible for the drow, since they don’t require magic arrows to hit.

At last, the ledger was found, Ezekiel signed us in, and we were let through the hole in the webbing…through the thickness of the sphere…into the heart of the nest.

To say all the darkness and malice of this place emenates from the nest is simplistic. The truth is more tangled and dangerous…but I will say the air seemed full of an oppression I have never felt before or since. We could see everything inside, but I’m not sure where the light came from. It showed drow – crowds of drow, milling together around the floor, and some of the sides, of the sphere. Indeed, we had to pick our way down the slope as we left the entrance.

Worse than drow are the demons…one tall, horned one with a whip, others in shapes I’ve never seen before, and over them all sat the giant spider…a look of such pride and hatred and scorn in her eyes that I dared not look at her face. Is it possible such tiny, unassuming garden creatures share her nature?

Aliana, of course, never lost her posture as she and Ezekiel crossed the floor, passed an old man dealing himself cards at a desk, and approached the center of the nest.

A snake-demon-lady slithered forward, two of her arms holding swords, and met us halfway. She introduced herself as Morag, and said she was here to “intimidate” us, we who dared seek an audience with Her Eight-Legged Excellence. She shook her swords, and spoke very low…those of us in the back of the group could barely hear her.

…Wisdom is known by her children. Means do not justify their ends, however when a God calls his servants to a task, he provides the means to accomplish it. And surely a master strategist arranges supplies from the most un-looked-for of places? If we ever leave this place, perhaps I can say more.

Finally, the snake-lady led us toward the center of the web, and the creature who sat enthroned on it and within it.

Ezekiel spoke. They agreed the EEG was an enemy to us both, and confirmed our previous information: he can be sealed through a ritual using the “surprise” we brought with us, by placing what was in the egg. She said that was a gift from her – four “stones of power”: an iron pyramid, a bronze star, a silver orb, and a blue crystal. With these, we could imprison the Elder…or House Alserv could release him on the world, into the world. And I think there would not be a world for very long after that.

However, the Alserv have a ritual site that we could use for our own purposes, within their estate. And this web contains a portal to that estate.

We asked for such directions as we could get. She told us the gate we sought was on this same level of the web. Ez seemed more inclined to chit-chat than I was eager for, but at last he directed us out of that dark, smothering place, and we returned to the dark but spacious place of the giant web.

From there we continued along the strand. We passed a platform with a gate-portal that had no three-footed pedestal to control it. Two demons guarded it, so I suppose they were in place of the pedestal.

We picked one of the threads that radiated from that platform, and continued until we came on an egg sack, taller than I am, with a great hole rent in its side and its vacant silks fluttering in the odd breezes of this place. Not far ahead, a dozen or so huge spiders swarmed a platform at the next junction of strands, hanging eery and nightmarish in the gloom. With the odd harp noises always whispering at the edges of our senses, one could imagine the spiders wailing like newborns just on the edge of human hearing.

Perhaps it was that, or perhaps it was some other logic, but we all turned around and started to retrace our steps. We passed the gate with demons, passed the snake-lady still fussing at her desk, and headed up the steep ramp to the level above us.

When we came to the woman with two chimera pets, she said she couldn’t let us past her twice for nothing. So she asked for Clatrial (or to bite Clatriel’s hand)…and it’s a good thing Ezekiel reacted first for once, and ordered her to leave with a wave of his holy symbol. The lady grimaced, and vanished in a puff of smoke that blew away. Otherwise, Aliana and I were about to body-slam her…which would get awkward quickly, because Clatrial would have landed on top of us, trying to bodyguard Aliana, and if we didn’t fall off the platform by that point, who knows what would happen next.

Anyway, we just had to kill the unnatural hybrid chimera monsters, and then we could continue retracing our steps.

Not too long after that, we met a small party of male drow and asked them about the three-footed pillars. Specifically, Ez asked for directions to one that supposedly “didn’t work” (we all know he’s a super-nerd, but it still sounds suspicious to me every time he asks).

The drow said they just knew that every pillar was a different color, and worked to a different sequence, but that we might be able to get directions from the gate that leads to and from the Fane.

So we back-tracked some more, and found the portal we entered by. The party of drow followed us, as they said they got lost. The guards by the portal asked why they weren’t relieved, and the male drow said they escorted us here on their way to relieve them. That was a lie to start with, since we showed them the way…but the gate drow shouldn’t know that. So I’m not sure what made them suspicious, since presumably they asked the others about their replacements because they thought they knew. Anyway, the two groups started arguing, but since we had no dog in that fight, we left them to it. Specifically, this junction of threads contained a strand wider than most – probably thirty feet wide – so plenty big to support the instant fortress. Lydia especially had no pep in her movements, but I think the rest of us could feel it was past midnight in the time that ruled our bodies. After pushing along on a minimum of rest and straining our nerves to breaking point, by common consent we set up the fortress just beyond hearing of the portal guards, and assigned watches.

The fortress gives a tremendous psychological support. Everyone is resting much more easily, though we can still hear the whining and scraping of the winds outside.

I wonder what it will come to…?

Dear Diary…into the blackness

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventures “Vault of the Drow”, “City of Spiders”, “Queen of the Demonweb Pits” and “Web of Souls”

Before two watches passed, Lydia rejoined us from her bookish seclusion, and Ezekiel roused us to take the fight to our enemy. When we approached the amber pillar, it rose up as before (the illusory spider atop it still leering and gesturing at us), but we could walk through it, and when we emerged, with none of the stuff seeming to have stuck to us, Ezekiel and Aliana led the way through the wall.

The first thing that really hit me was the smell. It’s almost like a spice – like cinnamon, Lydia thought – but it’s also almost like…burned hair. I’ve never sniffed a spider after squashing it, so I’m not sure what else it’s like. Maybe it’s incense, a long way off…but intense enough that it fills the whole place.

It’s dark, of course…except for our shields. The light reveals giant “tubes” – some ten feet across, some thirty, some everything in between – that stretch off into the vast blackness in every direction. Their surface is basically white, with a gently yielding texture. They’re the only thing to walk on here, aside from circular platforms that they connect, and while they don’t bounce exactly, so I’m not afraid of being flung off the edge by accident, it is tiring to walk on them – like deep sand on a beach. And they’re definitely not sticky enough to allow even Raven to climb along the edge or underside of the beam. At least they give enough purchase to let us climb up or down onto another strand when two or more of them cross each other.

The other thing that’s striking is the noise. Not a clamorous noise, but a…a hissing, or a howling if that could be musical, like the sound of the wind playing fitfully over 1000 harps, all tuned slightly differently. It gives the feeling that something unnatural is always breathing just behind you, and to watch Heiron and Clatrial, that’s how it feels to them, too.

Almost the first moment we stepped through the portal, something went “snap” inside Ezekiel’s backpack, but we couldn’t investigate right away because two female drow were standing guard on the platform with us. They seemed a little surprised that we were “surfacers,” but not alarmed…which is good so far.

Ez told them he had a message for Lolth. They told him the “nest” is at the base of the web, and pointed us down one of the four strands that radiate from that place.

I know the way back, but I’m not sure I could figure out how to make the portal reverse us back to reality, if I had to. The platform where we appeared has a circle of eight pillars surrounding it, but nothing that looks like the muraled wall in the temple.

As we moved away from the platform along the strand, mists hove out of the darkness, blocking our vision after a certain distance. Once we felt we were out of range of the guards, we stopped – both to examine Ezekiel’s backpack, and because the paladins were looking a little pale. Even Mikael looked a little green and fidgety, and he kept touching the cluster of mistletoe he wears around his neck.

Aliana and Clatrial insist they’re fine (of course they would), and besides there’s no way out of this place except through. Tressarian mumbled something about hating this place and wanted to puke even though he doesn’t have a stomach.

I think I understand. I never thought I would reach a place beyond the hand of Ehlonna…Even on the slave ship, I knew her goodness could not be undone completely. But this place is not like the Underdark. The very air (are we breathing air?) tastes like…like it hates being air. The darkness doesn’t just feel like it hates light, but like it hates everything else, too. Hates and also wants to eat it. I asked Heiron if my imagination was running away with me, and he said I was sitting right there beside him, so that made me feel better.

Inside Ezekiel’s backpack, the platinum egg had cracked to reveal four things I dare not even describe here. Like the Astral Plane, we have entered a space where laws we took for granted no longer function as expected. Who knows who or what might be spying on us at any time.

We left the first platform, and soon passed a squad of male drow led by a demon of some kind. They let us by when Ezekiel said we were just delivering a message, though Aliana might have made a different call.

We passed a platform with huge spiders – bigger than Nori – hanging above our heads in vast webs that also clung to their backs. I can only imagine they were chittering down at us with evil, spidery thoughts, but they too let us pass.

Things got serious when we came to a wall of darkness. It was like light literally stopped at a certain point, and not even Ezekiel’s mace could get any light into that bubble. We thought about using the ebony flies to move around it, but when Mikael tried to scout for us, he barely made it fifteen feet from the strand before a powerful wind hit him, and he had to struggle back to us. That at least explains some of the whistling and hissing noises around here…like it’s a place so vast the winds buffet it like a mountainside, and yet it’s enclosed so the air has no place to go to…so it just keeps circling and piling over itself. That’s not how real air works, of course, but the point is it kept Mikael from even telling us how far ahead the darkness might lie.

Ez tried one more trick with his prayer beads, but it didn’t seem to do anything…which left us with essentially one option. We tied ourselves together like climbing a mountain, and headed into the unknown – paladins first, of course.

The end of the line hadn’t even followed the front of the line into the blackness when we heard snarls and chomping. Aliana’s grumpy that whatever it was ignored her and Ezekiel, but it gave Mikael some bad teeth marks before he and Raven beat it back. We’re still not sure exactly what it was, except that it hates paladins – and Mikael.

We emerged from the darkness without falling off the strand or encountering anything else deadly. Ez patched Mikael up while we untied ourselves, and not too far a distance beyond that, our strand crossed another that seemed to lead down at an angle. Down being our direction, we followed it.

The downward strand ended at another level one. Here, we ran into more serious trouble. It started with a great bundle of webbing, twenty or thirty feet high, that blocked the path forward. We could climb over it, of course – with some difficulty. Or we could try cutting through it. But the mass was shifting and pulsing in disturbing ways, and none of us were eager to face down a swarm of huge spiders (Mikael said he didn’t have that much poison neutralization).

We did a little looking for a way around it, but Ezekiel soon pulled out a scroll he said would help determine if whatever was inside was dangerous. At first, he seemed to take a long time reading the scroll…then it dropped out of his hands, and we realized he was just slumped there, staring at nothing. Fortunately, he’s not dead, but it means Heiron and Mikael have been carrying him ever since.

Turns out the other direction along the strand brought us more progress. We killed some stone creatures that I believe were called “ropers” when we fought them under the Slaver city. More importantly, we came on a platform with a strange little stand on it: a stone pedestal if some kind, with three feet supporting it, and some kind of pattern etched on top, with three gems set at particular points. It looks dangerously significant.

We also met a female warrior who looks human, guarding a platform alongside two monsters that look like horrible goat/lion hybrids with dragon heads and wings. Ez was still unconscious, so I asked Aliana to use her winning ways to ask could we pretty please pass by…and wouldn’t you know, it worked, and we didn’t have to fight the lady and her pets.

At last, however, we came on another strand leading down – but it’s at such a sharp incline, I definitely don’t want to carry Ezekiel down it. Master Oaklock suggested waiting until he revives, and Heiron pointed out we’re all pretty tired (especially Lydia, who stayed up late cramming spell knowledge, and then came on this long walk in this oppressive darkness). I hate spending any more time in this place than necessary, but I agree to proceed at full strength we need Ezekiel to wake up.

This strand we’re sitting on isn’t wide enough to fit the fortress, so we simply keep watch over our sleeping companions, and watch dark shapes flit in and out of the mist…close? or far? It’s impossible to tell exactly. There’s something just so comforting about paladins…even Aliana, who’s so perfect as to be untouchable, and Clatrial, who’s chasing perfection so intently you think she might frighten it.


Find the previous entry here.

Point of View

Size, flame, movement. Burning iridescence, billowing size…momentous size, spearing the dark emptiness.

This, from the beginning. Burning gas, searing pressures of dazzling light…all racing in immensitude through dark, cold nothing. On, on, on…throwing out light. Launching it, out, out, sending the light — vast, long spears of brilliance.

And movement. Always movement, always change, always the dance. From the beginning, the dance…feet of giants (though not real feet) through endless silence (though not endless).

And behind it all, the Hand — the only Hand I had ever known: guiding, pushing, drawing, pointing. The finger: tracing the pattern through the void, the pattern, the pattern of swirl and race and spin through which I turn — barreling like light through the unsearchable emptiness.

If one were to tell me the purpose – the why of my what – the reason for the dance…he would say:

A grain of sand, countless journeys away, filled with beings I could not comprehend…winking with the speed of its turning…and these beings:

Tiny beyond scale, briefer than a moment, fragile creatures of no substance – made of nothing that could withstand my presence – crawling around the grain of sand, and blinking into nothingness before they could be seen. But they needed a…mark…measure…ruler.

As the dance was mapped out from time immeasurable, and I knew my place in it by the unseen Hand — so their place in time was marked off, according to Months, Days, Years (words without meaning in the measureless dark that fled before my feet). As the speed of my movement, and the rhythm of my passing the others in the dance, were all marked out by the pattern, so these unintelligible beings on the grain of sand required a pattern for marking the time. And all my size, all my brilliance, all my speed – was for this.

To know this…to comprehend the needs of beings beyond my scope of existence, and perceive my assignment from an angle totally unknown in the directionless space of my movement…and suddenly —

I see! I hear! I explode my adoration of the Hand that guides me, the Hand that made me. Who else could have crafted such a plan? Who else could form such a purpose, weave such a dance for such an audience? I – the momentous being of fire and frenzy – I am overwhelmed.

What honor to serve such a purpose, at the bidding of One so great. I am glorious in the glory of the path I tread. My mouthless existence almost forms a word…”Praise.”